Tyrone Spong may have suffered a horrific leg injury at GLORY 15, but the kickboxing star’s coach Henri Hooft is reporting his recovery is going as planned.

Spong broke his leg on April 12th, after Gokhan Saki checked one of the light-heavyweight’s leg kick attempts in the opening round. In a follow up report from GLORY, here is some of what Hooft had to say about Spong and his recovery.

“He is 28 years old and this is his first real injury, he is going to be OK. And it’s only a broken bone. We have these injuries in kickboxing but if you look at MMA they have more injuries, ligament problems and a lot of knee problems and knee surgeries.

“This is just a broken bone. It will heal and he will come back to training as normal.”

“But Tyrone is well on the way to recovery and he will be back stronger than ever.”

After breaking his leg at GLORY 15, renowned striker Tyrone Spong, is reporting that the surgery to repair the injury went according to plan.

The gruesome incident occurred in the opening round of Spong’s light-heavyweight tourney… Read More

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By FCF Staff

After breaking his leg at GLORY 15, renowned striker Tyrone Spong, is reporting that the surgery to repair the injury went according to plan.

The gruesome incident occurred in the opening round of Spong’s light-heavyweight tourney final on Saturday, versus Gokhan Saki. Spong broke his right leg after attempting a leg kick, and the bout was immediately stopped in Saki’s favor.

Following his surgery, Spong released the video posted above, where he relayed that the procedure had gone “well” and that he’ll “be back.”

Spong worked his way to a unanimous decision win over Saulo Cavalari to advance to the finals, while Saki stopped Nathan Corbet .

Spong had been expected to compete at World Series of Fighting’s upcoming, July 5th card.

GLORY crowned a new light-heavyweight champion Saturday night in Istanbul, as Gokhan Saki took the title by stopping Tyrone Spong in the card’s tournament final. The championship victory came as a result of Spong breaking his leg,… Read More

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Gokhan Saki attending to Tyrone Spong (photo via GLORY)

By FCF Staff

GLORY crowned a new light-heavyweight champion Saturday night in Istanbul, as Gokhan Saki took the title by stopping Tyrone Spong in the card’s tournament final. The championship victory came as a result of Spong breaking his leg, after Saki checked the WSOF fighter’s leg kick attempt.

Saki stopped Nathan Corbet earlier in the night to advance to the tourney finals, while Spong scored a decision win over Saulo Cavalari.

After the event GLORY’s Head of Talent Operations, renowned kickboxing training Cor Hemmers, made the following statements about the fight, Saki, and heavyweight Daniel Ghita (quotes via GLORY press release).

“Our thoughts are with Tyrone and we wish him a speedy recovery. At this stage, we don’t know exactly what the damage to his leg is. We had ambulances on standby and Tyrone was taken to one immediately from the ring, and from there to the hospital. We are waiting for updates from the hospital.”

Gokhan Saki (right) attacking Nathan Corbet (photo via GLORY)

“It may be that some people say that Saki won this fight by some sort of luck or fluke. But actually, you must realize that this kind of defense (the shin block) is the textbook defense from Muay Thai and kickboxing. If your opponent throws a kick and you defend perfectly, you will hurt him. It is designed to hurt him so he does not throw that kick any more. Of course, it is rare for a fighter to sustain a serious injury when his opponent blocks him like so, but it does happen – look at Anderson Silva in the UFC recently, for example. It is rare but it is not completely unexpected – this is exactly what such defense is designed to do.”

“We have some people in mind for Saki’s first title defense, but first I think we must let him enjoy the belt for a little while. He beat two world-class opponents in one night to become champion and that is a very special thing. I am sure he is willing to face anybody who is offered to him, so when we have opponents in mind, we will contact him to arrange his next match.”

“Daniel Ghita is number one in the heavyweight division, so of course he will be fighting for the heavyweight title when that belt is placed on the line. We don’t have a match set yet, but there is one opponent who makes very good sense for it. We will announce some news shortly via GloryWorldSeries.com.”

Although Jon Fitch relayed in the past that he wasn’t willing to fight controversial, heel hook specialist Rousimar Palhares, a bout between the UFC vets will headline WSOF 11. The promotion has confirmed that Fitch will challenge… Read More

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Fitch kicking Alfaya (photo via WSOF)

By FCF Staff

Although Jon Fitch relayed in the past that he wasn’t willing to fight controversial, heel hook specialist Rousimar Palhares, a bout between the UFC vets will headline WSOF 11. The promotion has confirmed that Fitch will challenge the newly crowned welterweight champ in July, however, a venue and exact date have yet to be announced.

Fitch (25-6-1) is coming off a split decision win over Marcelo Alfaya in October, after he was choked out by Josh Burkman at WSOF 3 last June.

Palhares (16-6), meanwhile, laid claim to the WSOF title Saturday by tapping out Steve Carl with a first round, inverted heel hook.

WSOF has also announced that lightweight champ Justin Gaethje (11-0), who win the title in January by stopping Rich Patishnock, will face Nick Newell (11-0).

The latter has been tapped for a title shot after defeating Keon Caldwell and Sabah Fadai under the WSOF banner.

WSOF has also confirmed that renowned kickboxer Tyrone Spong will fight at the July event, however, his opponent has yet to be determined.

New York, NY – GLORY, the world’s premier kickboxing league, today announced the fight card for GLORY 15 ISTANBUL, featuring a one-night, four-man Light Heavyweight World Championship Tournament, to be broadcast on SPIKE… Read More

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By GLORY (via press release)

New York, NY – GLORY, the world’s premier kickboxing league, today announced the fight card for GLORY 15 ISTANBUL, featuring a one-night, four-man Light Heavyweight World Championship Tournament, to be broadcast on SPIKE TV from Ülker Sports Arena in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday, April 12th.

Turkish knockout artist Gokhan ‘The Rebel’ Saki (79-16-0, 56 KOs) will make his Light Heavyweight debut at GLORY 15 ISTANBUL when he faces Australia’s Nathan ‘Carnage’ Corbett (57-4-0, 45 KOs) to form one half of GLORY’s Light Heavyweight World Championship Tournament. On the other side of the bracket, #1 ranked Tyrone ‘King of the Ring’ Spong (90-5-0, 60 KOs), who has not been defeated since 2011, takes on young and hungry Saulo ‘Cassius Clay’ Cavalari (28-2-0, 18 KOs), currently ranked #3 at Light Heavyweight.

Recently World Series of Fighting’s matchmaker and vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz proposed Tyrone Spong fight Bellator’s “Rampage” Jackson on a cross promotional card, and now the light-heavyweights have gotten into it on Twitter.

Recently World Series of Fighting’s matchmaker and vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz proposed Tyrone Spong fight Bellator’s “Rampage” Jackson on a cross promotional card, and now the light-heavyweights have gotten into it on Twitter.

While the consensus seems to be that WSOF’s challenge to Bellator won’t in fact take place, that understandably hasn’t stopped fans from talking about the possibility. After the renowned striker Spong challenged Jackson to pressure Bellator, in terms of making the card happen, their interaction quickly boiled over. Here is some of what the fighters had to say to each other.

@Tyrone_spong bro I hear u getting loud over there,u keep calling me out and u r not even n Bellator. Come over or shut the fuck up!

The California State Athletic Commission has released the salary figures for World Series of Fighting’s latest event this past Saturday, which was hosted by Ontario’s Citizens Business Bank Arena. The card saw Tyrone Spong work his… Read More

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By FCF Staff

The California State Athletic Commission has released the salary figures for World Series of Fighting’s latest event this past Saturday, which was hosted by Ontario’s Citizens Business Bank Arena. The card saw Tyrone Spong work his way to a unanimous decision win over Angel DeAnda in the main event, and not surprisingly, the decorated kickboxer was one of the card’s top earners.

According to the CSAC figures, Spong earned $31,000 (including a 9K win bonus) for the win, while DeAnda was paid just $4,000.

Some of the card’s other leaders were kickboxing legend Ray Sefo, who was paid 30K for his stoppage loss to David Huckaba, and UFC vet Gerald Harris, who also made 30 thousand for his UD win over Jorge Santiago.

Here are the official payroll numbers for WSOF 4. They do not include any additional bonuses or sponsorship money a fighter may have earned.

Here are the official results for the latest World Series of Fighting tonight in Ontario, California, which saw decorated kickboxer Tyrone Spong outscore light-heavyweight Angel DeAnda for the unanimous decision win. With the victory, Spong improved his… Read More

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Spong (photo via Ryan Loco)

By FCF Staff

Here are the official results for the latest World Series of Fighting tonight in Ontario, California, which saw decorated kickboxer Tyrone Spong outscore light-heavyweight Angel DeAnda for the unanimous decision win. With the victory, Spong improved his MMA record to 2-0 while DeAnda’s fell to 11-3.

Other winners from the main card included Marlon Moraes, Nick Newell and Dave Huckaba, who stopped WSOF President and veteran fighter Ray Sefo in round two.

Tyrone Spong and Angel DeAnda are set for their light-heavyweight main event tomorrow night at WSOF 4 in Ontario, California, as both men made weight this afternoon.

Both fighters came in at 205 pounds for their tilt, which will be broadcast live on The NBC Sports Network.

Not all of the competitors made weight for the card however. UFC vet Jorge Santiago came in at 172. 4 for his welterweight tilt with Gerald Harris, and has been given two extra hours to cut the additional weight.

A light-heavyweight bout between Hans Stringer and Lew Polley has reportedly been scrapped, after the latter came in approximately 30 pounds over.

Here are the official weigh-in results for the card, which will be hosted by the Citizens Business Bank Arena.

World Series of Fighting made an interesting choice when it decided to feature Tyrone Spong in the promotion’s next headliner, as the “King of the Ring” is far from a household name in North American circles. To date, the WSOF has promoted events headlined by established UFC vets like Andrei Arlovski, Anthony Johnson and most recently Jon Fitch. As a result, some fans and pundits were likely surprised when the promotion announced that Spong would battle Angel DeAnda in this Saturday’s main event.

While casual MMA fans here in the United States and Canada may only be catching up on who Spong is, kickboxing fans know that the 27 year-old is one of combat sport’s elite strikers. In addition, Spong continues to round out his MMA game with the renowned Blackzilians team in Boca Raton, Florida, and is off to a 1-0 start. As a result, the WSOF is keenly aware that Spong could be headed to great things in MMA, and wants to make sure the Dutch fighter is promoted accordingly.

“I’m training with some of the best MMA fighters in the world. I’m very satisfied with my camp,” said Spong during a recent media call to promote his August 10th bout with DeAnda, which will take place in Ontario, California. “I know it’s a quick turnaround, but it just shows that I’m in great shape and that I don’t need to take too much time off. I’m just ready and I just want to give the fans what they want.

Spong (photo credit: Ed Diller / GLORY)

Spong is referring to the fact that he competed in GLORY’s June 22nd, light-heavyweight tournament, which took place in New York City. The fighter won three bouts that night to take the tournament, and extended his kickboxing record to an impressive 72-6-1. Spong’s kickboxing career is another reason why the light-heavyweight is such an intriguing figure, as for now, he plans to compete in both sports.

“I will probably have another kickboxing bout scheduled. I’m not sure,” said Spong, who made his MMA debut at WSOF 1 last November and knocked out Travis Bartlett in the first round. “As long as it goes good, why stop? It seems to work for me and I’ve been able to adjust. We’ll see what happens in the future.”

One would think that if Spong’s MMA career goes according to plan, then the day will come where it will be in his best interests to focus on just MMA. That said, GLORY continues to expand its reach and is making inroads into mainstream sporting culture. Case in point, recently the kickboxing promotion signed a multi-year, broadcast deal with SPIKE.

Of course, before Spong is faced with any decision regarding what his vocational focus should be, the fighter will have to score more wins with WSOF. In DeAnda, Spong will take on a fighter who has scored three straight wins and has put together a 11-2 record. Most recently, DeAnda stopped Strikeforce vet Anthony Ruiz at a Tachi Palace Fights event in November, 2012.

“I thank Angel DeAnda for accepting this fight,” said Spong. “He seems like the type of guy who really likes to bring it and who gives the fans what they expect: a hard and exciting fight. Everyone who knows me understands that that’s one of the things that I stand for.”

WSOF 4 will be hosted by Ontario’s Citizen’s Bank Arena and will be broadcast live on the NBC Sports Network.